Since I have no life in Saint Valéry, I decided I might as well make an effort to find one because I will be living here for the next 7 months. I considered my various options and trekking seemed like the only enjoyable one (because I love to walk). So I joined this group called Saint Valéry Contacts and they meet every tuesday mornings at the town hall. I was the first one to get there after losing my way at least 3 times. As my fellow trekkers began to arrive, I realized I was soon to be the only young person among 45 old people. This was going to be boring for sure! The trek was 14 kms long and surprisingly enough I was the only person lagging behind. The leader of the group is a 70ish kind lady who travelled to India many times and the oldest member of the group is and 85 year old feisty Norman dame and they were all so much better at this than me! Age is just a number my friends! If you want to do something in life, don't let your age stop you!
During the 14 kms, I made only 3 friends out of the 45 people present. Elderly French people are not very easy to mingle with and many seemed wary of the new Indian girl in the crowd. But hey, I didn't let that get to me and continued with my photography and admiring the beautiful countryside. I managed to spot the nuclear plant in Saint Valéry as well and it gave out a very eerie vibe. I would never want to work in such a cramped environment. The building structure was basically four inverted testtubes and the workers go inside them. We walked through Ingouville (a small village in the region) and through various farms. The road etiquette in France is so interesting. The drivers really respect the pedestrians! So I was really surprised to find that even a tractor moved off the road (into a nearby field), just so that the 46 of us could trek on peacefully. Oh, the 12th of October will be an important day in French history because 3.5 million French people took to the streets to manifest against Nicolas Sarkozy's pension plans. The President wants to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the French people are against that. I mentioned this to my Italian friend Sonietta and sure enough pat came the response, "à la française! hein!". Which basically means, it's expected of the French to react this way when faced with work! :) I personally would have liked to work until 62 and I can see Nicola Sarkozy's point here. The state will run 50 million euros of loss by 2020 if they continue to pay for pensions at such a rate. While trekking we were joined by tons of "Lycéens" (student strikers), who the government was hoping would stay away from the strike! Interesting span of events for me as an outsider to observe. On one hand, I love how the French stand up for their rights and aren't afraid to manifest against any higher authority but on the other hand I find it sad to see how they are willing to cripple their economy for weeks at a time and also not see the long term benefits of such a pension reform. (oh hey! this is just my opinion, I think I'm allowed to have one). So after the trek I was dead beat and just came home and crashed. I enjoyed the fresh air and the lovely country houses in Normandy. I got some interesting tips on what to try out in the region and in the end, I was quite at ease among this bunch of really active elders! |
| My group of trekkers who were suddenly joined by a large crowd of students striking against the government. Ah! You have to love the French for this! |
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  The kind tractor that moved out of the way!  Hello beautiful winding road!   Places I will visit soon! |
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